Dear All Saints Parish Family,
Every seven years, when Christmas Day falls on a Monday, we have a short Advent. But it gives us the opportunity to draw close to the Lord twice in the same week, once for the very short 4th week of Advent, and again for celebration of the Nativity of the Lord. So if you’ve picked up this bulletin for the Sunday commitment or the Christmas commitment, my comments are the same: MERRY CHRISTMAS!
I invite you to celebrate Christmas not like those who see it as ending on December 25th, but rather that this party has just begun. The liturgical celebration of Christmas is called an “octave,” meaning, as those musically inclined will recognize, it is an 8-day long celebration. For 8 days, it will be Christmas Day. We will celebrate the Feasts of St. John, the Holy Innocence, St. Stephen, and the Holy Family, but these feasts are couched, wrapped up with the mystery of the Word Made Flesh in Jesus Christ. All that to say: keep your tree up, keep the lights lit, have festive celebrations, keep the Christmas music on repeat, for Christ the Lord is born for us, and one day simply isn’t enough to celebrate such a tremendous mystery and gift.
And we need Him, we need the Prince of Peace, the King of Kings. In fact, there’s nothing that anyone needs more.
May the grace of this holy season bring the consolation of the closeness of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of the World. He is not far from you, He never has been. The same powerful yet gentle King laid in the manger and the arms of the Blessed Mother waits for each of us at the manger of the altar.
Rejoice O Dunwoody, to thee has come Emmanuel!
Praised be Jesus Christ, Now and Forever!
All you holy saints of God, Pray for us!
Merry Christmas!
Fr. Michael